


Throughout The Centuries

by STARSdidathing



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asgardian Tony Stark, Complicated Relationships, Established Relationship, Feels, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Growing Up Together, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, On-Again/Off-Again Relationship, Romantic Friendship, Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 09:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17077898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing
Summary: Loki and Anthony's friendship is timeless, just like their love; not even Ragnarok can stop it.





	Throughout The Centuries

**Author's Note:**

> This came about by me contemplating Asgardian!Tony around the Thor 3 timeline. I've been meaning to post this for aaaaages but kept posting other things instead. Whoops? Enjoy!

When Hela knocked Loki out of the bifrost he felt terror and it was for two distinct reasons; the first was that he was falling into space again and he didn’t know where he would end up and what might befall him when he arrived there. The second fear put his heart in a vice as he thought about the one man that meant the world to him. Loki feared what would happen to Anthony Howardson when the oldest child of Odin arrived on Asgard.

Loki and Anthony were two sides to a coin. They were friends, they were lovers, and occasionally, they were bitter enemies. They loved and they hated and more often than not, they loved each other. They were passionate and they were argumentative and while their arguments usually meant nights in each other’s beds, it had also meant grudges and rivalry in their youth.

Their friendship was said to be as unshakeable as a mountain and as fiery as Muspelheim. 

Yet Loki’s truth birth, betrayal, fall from the bifrost and invasion of Midgard had shaken them. They had screamed and argued at each other while Loki was in his prison, and it was after one such argument where Loki had spitted bitter and hurtful words and Anthony had turned his back. He then refused to return. Loki had needed Frigga to pass on a desperate message from him; Loki could live with many things, but not with his last sight of Anthony being the other man’s back.

Their next conversation had been softer and full of whispers and apologies. 

It meant that when Loki escaped and “died” on Svartalfheim, he had made sure to sneak into Anthony’s home the same night. He found the man in mourning, but had cupped his face and kissed away his tears. Loki had been punched for his lie, but Loki had just kissed Anthony again, whispering of his plans and his illusions while Anthony groaned and called him an idiot but still held him close.

They weren’t lovers while Loki was King; they didn’t have the time and couldn’t arouse suspicion. They hardly saw each other, but that had often been the case in the past. They might have shared centuries of friendship and intimacy, but they had lives to live and realms to travel. They were dear to one another, but they were often focusing on and spending time with others. 

Loki did know that Anthony was laughing at his ruse. He came to see the dramatic re-enactment of Loki’s death; muffling his sniggers and claiming them to be sobs for his lost friend. Loki would catch Anthony’s eyes from beneath his illusion and they would both be laughing at each other.

Loki just wished he could draw the other man closer and further into his tricks. But he couldn’t, not then and not now.

And when Loki landed on Sakaar, Loki did his best to worm his way into the good graces of the Grandmaster, but even as he did, his heart and his mind was far away, locked on the man he loved and fearing what was happening to him on Asgard.

* * *

Anthony was in love with the second prince; that was a well established fact, but it didn’t mean that he always agreed with him. It didn’t mean that sometimes Anthony didn’t despise the other man’s ideas, arrogance, decisions and his vicious, spiteful tongue.

It didn’t mean that Anthony didn’t sometimes think it would be easier if he could fall in love with someone else.

But something always drew him back to Loki and by the end of five centuries; Anthony knew he’d never leave the mage’s orbit. 

He had been truly tempted to walk away after the mage had returned from Midgard. Loki had been the darkest Anthony had ever seen him; so bitter, uncaring and unrepentant. He declared Anthony to be little more than a pathetic bed warmer and an eventual scapegoat for his next great trick. He’d told Anthony that he would invade a thousand worlds for his goals and prove himself the monstrous Jotun he had always been and would Anthony dare to kiss him then?

Anthony had been so furious and disgusted that he’d walked away and ignored the mage’s calls of his name. He wouldn’t have returned, not until Queen Frigga begged him on behalf of her son. He’d grudgingly visited the prince again, but the man he found was slumped and desperate. Loki gritted his teeth but spoke past his pride, murmuring apologies and telling Anthony about his susceptibility to the Mad Titan’s whispers and of Thanos’ use of the mind gem on him. He also confessed his own self-hatred, disgust and horror over the revelation of his heritage. His fear that Anthony would be one more person to finally leave and betray him.

It had not been solved in a day, but Anthony had pressed his hand to the side of the cell, watching Loki’s hand rise and rest against the wall on the opposite side. Anthony had smiled at his friend and softly promised him, “If your personality cannot sway me from your side, what makes you think something else will?”

Loki had let out a rough breath and a tired smile; his final show of vulnerability and relief before he had masked it and they had returned to the friendship they had always shared before. 

After his faux-death, their reunion and their brief kisses before Loki’s ruse was put into full affect, Anthony did not see much of the prince. He wasn’t even present when Thor revealed Loki’s trick to the court. He merely saw the after effects, and most importantly, he saw what happened when Hela stepped foot on the planet.

Anthony was not so foolish as to face her; instead he used the cover of her attack to find the one person who could help in the days to come; he found Heimdall. The Gatekeeper had never been fond of him, well aware that his loyalty would always be to Loki, but there was little time for grudges and Anthony was quickly tasked with helping to evacuate the citizens before Hela could get to them.

He was not a warrior, but he _was_ a weaponsmith who had trained on Asgard and explored the realms and hidden pathways with Loki. It meant that he was able to defend those that he found and sneak them out of Asgard's capital. It still didn’t mean that good Asgardians weren’t lost. 

But there was no time to mourn the ones he knew about, and no time to mourn Loki. Hela had claimed he and Thor were dead, but Anthony had refused to believe it. Loki had escaped death before - tricked whole realms regarding his demise and Anthony had clung tightly to that thought - and perhaps it was some show of compassion or perhaps Anthony was not hiding it as well as he thought, but Heimdall had pulled him aside and told him that Thor and Loki still lived. 

The relief that had rocked through Anthony had almost staggered him, but after composing himself he had merely thanked Heimdall and turned back to his task of helping the survivors. But, he had clung to that knowledge, and held it close. 

Yet, knowing that Loki lived had only made the hurt sharper when Thor, a Valkyrie and a mortal all arrived on Asgard to defend it with no sign of the trickster prince at their side. Anthony knew that Loki only ever made decisions that benefited him and a battle that was liable to be lost was not a battle worth investing in, but it still disappointed Anthony more than he wanted to admit to find the mage absent. It made him grit his teeth and clench his sword as he stood on the bridge and prepared for a fight that would likely end in his death.

But to Anthony’s relief, surprise and great amusement, Loki _did_ arrive.

“ _Your saviour is here_ ,” he had bellowed with such pride, arrogance, flare, and _dramatics_ that Anthony’s laugh echoed around the bridge and Loki’s eyes found his within a moment, bright and relieved and laughing right back - just as they always had for five hundred years.

When Loki landed on the bridge with an army, Anthony pushed through them, not even caring that Loki was speaking with Heimdall. Anthony merely reached his prince who was turning to smirk at him and threw himself into Loki’s arms. Anthony brought their mouths together in a harsh and grateful kiss and felt Loki grin even as he held him close and responded back.

It was brief--far too brief--but they were in the middle of a battle and they both knew this was not yet a reunion they could indulge in.

Loki pulled back and he grinned. “Did you miss me, Anthony?”

Anthony smiled and answered him with ease and truth; “When do I not?”

He was rewarded by briefly seeing Loki’s eyes soften with affection and warmth, but it was gone too soon as they were drawn into the battle to save Asgard.

And as they had for hundreds of years, Loki and Anthony stood side to side and back to back, taking on everything the universe could throw at them, together.

**Author's Note:**

> And shhh, let's pretend that they all arrive safely on Midgard, okay?
> 
> But that aside, I picture Loki and Tony here as friends/lovers but still independent of each other. They could go months without seeing each other and then when they see one another, it's like only a few seconds have passed. They'll come back together as friends. As lovers. They come and go like the tides, but always meeting in the middle.
> 
> They orbit each other and _love_ each other, but they still lead their own lives. Idk, it was an interesting way to write them, but I liked it. I hope you did too!


End file.
